VA-SA37 Saint Johns Episcopal Church

Marker text: SAINT JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Here on 23 March 1775 Patrick Henry delivered his "Liberty or Death" speech, calling for American independence, during the second Virginia revolutionary convention that included members George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, and Richard Henry Lee. Saint John's Church was built in 1741 by Richard Randolph on land donated by Richmond's founder, William Byrd II. It continues to server Henrico Parish (founded 1611). Buried in its churchyard are George Wythe and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, mother of Edgar Allan Poe.

Department of Historic Resources, 1991